calodo2003
Flaming Full Member
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Me lying on the sofa stuffing grapes into my mouth.Tweet
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How do they burn the pollen without setting fire to the grass or the tree that the fire line passes through?Tweet
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Absolutely no idea.How do they burn the pollen without setting fire to the grass or the tree that the fire line passes through?
It's probably something obvious but it looks like a magic trick to me!Absolutely no idea.
From a logical perspective, the pollen is light and highly combustible so it burns away before the green (and wet) grass can start to burn. The pollen likely covers the grass quickly, over a couple of days. Grass is very resilient, as you see in summer it can be dried out and brown but returns to brilliant green with on a little rainfall so a few days like this won't hurt it.It's probably something obvious but it looks like a magic trick to me!
I also don't get how the grass can be totally OK despite having been deprived of sunlight by the pollen - except if the pollen had only fallen pretty recently.
So many questions! (Well, two.)
I won't try your socks experiment, but thanks for the explanation all the same! That's interesting.From a logical perspective, the pollen is light and highly combustible so it burns away before the green (and wet) grass can start to burn. The pollen likely covers the grass quickly, over a couple of days. Grass is very resilient, as you see in summer it can be dried out and brown but returns to brilliant green with on a little rainfall so a few days like this won't hurt it.
For the trees, the fire moves past so quickly there's not enough time for the bark to ignite. As well, like the grass, the flames are not intense enough due to the lack of flammable material in the fluffy pollen to start a big tree on fire.
Edit: a neat and similar trick you can try yourself is lighting your socks on fire.* Not all socks are compatible with this and from my youth I remember that white tube socks work best. You can light the fuzz of a worn in pair on fire and it will spread and burn out before your foot feels any heat. The sock itself won't start on fire because the burn takes place too quickly. This is a similar principle to what's happening with the pollen and grass.
*You probably shouldn't light your socks on fire. Be safe, not stupid.
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That is amazing.Tweet
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This sort of thing is the most amazing stuff from an evolutionary perspective. Along with the convergent evolution of the spiders Web thing from a few posts back.Tweet
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This young lady is worth the follow if you are on Twitter.This sort of thing is the most amazing stuff from an evolutionary perspective. Along with the convergent evolution of the spiders Web thing from a few posts back.
Oh and myocin. Saw a doc 10 years ago showing myocin taking a virus to cell nucleus and went "those things are real!" Little machines inside every cell, so cool.
This is a myosin protein dragging an endorphin along a filament to the inner part of the brain’s parietal cortex. This creates happiness…so we’re literally watching happiness.
Will look into her as it were. Not on twitterThis young lady is worth the follow if you are on Twitter.
Damn! No way I’d do that.
Stuff like this blows my mind.Tweet
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I quite enjoyed that, despite the premise not really being true which was said at the end. They weren't so much misfits as highly evolutionarily specialised... perhaps too specialised? It makes me wonder if we were seeing the end of an evolutionary road for some of them. I suppose with natural selection that's what happens. We don't see the "misfit" species who've already been eliminated, and some on the planet will always be close to joining them.
Incidentally, I'm currently watching a new show on the BBC about this: Nature's Misfits, narrated by Bill Bailey, and his narration over this part was identical to David Attenborough's in the show above. Cheeky feckers.
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The tune at 1:20:30 isFor those who wants to see a bit more of that view:
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Yea like how did natural selection get to thatStuff like this blows my mind.
Very, very slowly.Yea like how did natural selection get to that
I was thinking it might have been fairly quickly actually. I'm thinking a predecessor might have had random spots for camouflage, and the few specimens where the random spots have a meaningful shape would have had a huge advantage. Given the probably pretty large and short-lived population of those flies (or maybe I'm thinking of fruit flies too much), that might have happened relatively suddenly (in terms of usual evolutionary timelines).Very, very slowly.
Good point about the life cycles. I always say the secret ingredient with evolution is time. But an adaptation untill fully developed should be by and large useless so how does it get from nothing to fully developed.I was thinking it might have been fairly quickly actually. I'm thinking a predecessor might have had random spots for camouflage, and the few specimens where the random spots have a meaningful shape would have had a huge advantage. Given the probably pretty large and short-lived population of those flies (or.maybe I'm thinking of fruit flies too much), that might have happened relatively suddenly (in terms of usual evolutionary timelines).
Or not.
Yeah, absolutely!Good point about the life cycles. I always say the secret ingredient with evolution is time. But an adaptation untill fully developed should be by and large useless so how does it get from nothing to fully developed.
While those incremental adaptation stages shouldn'tve given the creature any better chance of survival.
But with enough time and evolutionary dead ends there are enough chances for the spectacular to evolve. I guess its a game of numbers. Still mind blowing though.
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